Drain valve

ABSTRACT

A drain valve for a vehicle compressed air system. The drain valve including a body portion is adapted to separate water, debris and other relatively heavy objects from a compressed air stream passing through the valve and a gladhand portion capable of connecting to a gladhand connector. The drain may also include a pressure actuated valve and drain port for automatically discharging water from the drain valve.

BACKGROUND

Towed vehicles, such as for example tractor-truck trailers, containerchassis, dollies or rail cars, are designed to be connected anddisconnected. The air brakes on these towed vehicles are powered andcontrolled from the tractor through two pneumatic lines—one linesupplies air at full system pressure to power the trailer brakes, andthe other supplies a pneumatic control signal of varying pressure toindicate when the brakes should be applied or released. The standardconnection for these lines between the tractor and trailer is called agladhand. When the trailer is disconnected from the tractor, thegladhands are generally exposed to the environment, and thus allowwater, debris and insects into the system. Water and debris in thesystem can impact the brake control valves and may even cause them tomalfunction.

Known approaches to addressing this concern include: providing the opengladhand with the ability to rotate against a seal to close the opening;providing a flapper door that closes over the gladhand opening when thegladhand is disconnected; and placing a screen in-line to catch debristhat enters the air lines. For a variety of reasons, such as degradingseal integrity and screen blockage, these solutions can be lesseffective than desired.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/926,251, the entire disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a mechanism whichcan effectively capture and vent water and debris that is introducedinto the trailer air brake system while the gladhands are uncoupled.This mechanism is often mounted at a low-point in the air brake system,such as the underside of the trailer on a cross-member. This location,however, makes mounting, inspecting, and servicing the mechanismdifficult and awkward.

SUMMARY

The present application relates to a drain valve for a vehiclecompressed air system. In particular the present application relates toa drain valve having a body portion adapted to separate water, debrisand other relatively heavy objects from a compressed air stream and agladhand portion capable of connecting to a gladhand connector. In oneembodiment, the gladhand portion and body portion are formed as asingle, integrated part. The drain valve may include a pressure actuatedvalve and drain port for automatically discharging water from the drainvalve.

DRAWING DESCRIPTIONS

In the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, embodiments of the invention areillustrated, which, together with a general description of the inventiongiven above, and the detailed description given below serve toillustrate the principles of this invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a vehicle air brake systemutilizing an exemplary embodiment of a drain valve according to thepresent invention, shown enlarged in the area of a gladhand connection;

FIG. 2 is a first perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of thedrain valve according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a second perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of thedrain valve of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross section of an exemplary embodiment of thedrain valve of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal cross section of an exemplary embodiment of thedrain valve of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is the perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the drainvalve of FIG. 2 shown mounted in a bulkhead mounting style;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of a drainvalve according to the present invention, shown mounted onto anL-bracket;

FIG. 8 is a first perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of adrain valve; according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a second perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of thedrain valve of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a drain valveaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a drain valveaccording to the present invention, showing two valves mounted to atowed vehicle;

FIG. 12 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of exemplary embodimentof the drain valve of FIG. 11; and

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a mounting arrangement of anotherexemplary embodiment of a drain valve according to the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While various aspects and concepts of the invention are described andillustrated herein as embodied in combination in the exemplaryembodiments, these various aspects and concepts may be realized in manyalternative embodiments, either individually or in various combinationsand sub-combinations thereof. Unless expressly excluded herein all suchcombinations and sub-combinations are intended to be within the scope ofthe present invention. Still further, while various alternativeembodiments as to the various aspects and features of the invention,such as alternative materials, structures, configurations, methods,devices, software, hardware, control logic and so on may be describedherein, such descriptions are not intended to be a complete orexhaustive list of available alternative embodiments, whether presentlyknown or identified herein as conventional or standard or laterdeveloped. Those skilled in the art may readily adopt one or more of theaspects, concepts or features of the invention into additionalembodiments within the scope of the present invention even if suchembodiments are not expressly disclosed herein. Additionally, eventhough some features, concepts or aspects of the invention may bedescribed herein as being a preferred arrangement or method, suchdescription is not intended to suggest that such feature is required ornecessary unless expressly so stated. Still further, exemplary orrepresentative values and ranges may be included to assist inunderstanding the present invention however, such values and ranges arenot to be construed in a limiting sense and are intended to be criticalvalues or ranges only if so expressly stated.

The present invention is directed to a drain valve 10 that combines, ina single assembly or integrated part, a gladhand style connection and amechanism capable of separating water and/or debris from a compressedair stream. Gladhand connectors are known in the art as the standardpneumatic connector style used to connect the pneumatic lines of a towedvehicle and the pneumatic lines of a towing vehicle, such as for examplea trailer, a dolly, or a container chassis. An example of a gladhandconnector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,865, the entire disclosureof which is incorporated by reference herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic representation of an example of acompressed air brake system utilizing an exemplary embodiment of a drainvalve 10. Generally, a towing vehicle 12, such as for example a tractortruck, includes a pressurized air source 14. An air line 16 from thepressurized air source 14 extends from the towing vehicle 12 toward atowed vehicle 18, and terminates in a gladhand connector 20.

The drain valve 10 mounts via a mounting portion 22 onto the towedvehicle 18 at a location accessible to the gladhand connector 20 of thetowing vehicle 12. The drain valve 10 includes a gladhand connectorportion 24 adapted to couple to the gladhand connector 20 to allow acompressed air stream from the pressurized air source 14 to flow throughthe drain valve 10 and be delivered to the towed vehicle brakecomponents, such as for example, a brake valve, generally referenced as25. The drain valve 10 includes a body portion 26 adapted to separateheavier material, such as water and debris, from the air stream. Theseparated water and debris may be automatically discharged from thedrain valve 10 via a drain port 28.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate two perspective views of an exemplaryembodiment of the drain valve 30 according to the present invention. Inthis embodiment, the drain valve 30 includes a mounting portion 32, agladhand portion 34, and a body portion 36. The body portion 36 and thegladhand portion 34 may be formed as a single, integrated part, as shownin FIGS. 1 and 2, or they may be an assembly in which the body portionattaches directly to or adjacent to the gladhand portion, as shown in,for example, the drain valve of FIG. 11 and discussed hereinafter.

The gladhand portion 34 of the drain valve 30 is configured to couplewith a gladhand connector. As such, the gladhand portion 34 may includean inlet opening 40, a seal 42 adjacent the inlet opening 40, a tab 44,and a tab receiving portion 46. The tab 44 and the tab receiving portion46 are configured to engage a tab receiving portion and tab on acorresponding gladhand connector, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 4, the body portion 36 may include a sump 48, a sumpinlet 50, a sump outlet 52, and a drain port 54 located along a baseportion 55 of the body portion 36. The function and configuration of thedrain valve is substantially similar to the drain valve disclosed inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/926,251, the entire disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference. Therefore, a detaileddescription of the function and design of the drain valve 30 will not bepresented beyond sufficient detail to generally explain the valve'sfunction.

The inlet opening 40 in the gladhand portion 34 communicates with thesump inlet 50, which is positioned such that an inlet stream ofcompressed air enters the sump 48 tangentially thereby creating a vortexwithin the sump 48 which separates the inlet stream by weight. The sumpoutlet 52 is positioned at a top portion 56 of the body portion 36. Theoutlet 52 receives a contaminant reduced portion of the inlet air streamfor distribution to downstream brake components 25. Additionally, thebody portion 36 may include a pressure actuated valve 58 that is used toclose the drain port 54 when pressure is applied to the system and toopen the drain port 54 to allow exhaust of the water and debris whenthere is little to no pressure in the drain valve 30. Since the pressureactuated valve 58 is actuated by pressure swings within the sump 48 thatresult from the normal operation of the compressed air lines, the drainport 54 is automatically accessed to discharge the collected material.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sump inlet 50 may be configured as a verticalslot, however, other configurations are also possible, such as, forexample, a generally circular opening. A vertical slot configuration forthe sump inlet 50 may enhance the vortex and separation action ascompared to a circular opening.

The mounting portion 32 of the drain valve 30 can be configured in avariety of ways, examples of which are illustrated in the exemplaryembodiments herein. Referring to FIG. 6 (and also FIGS. 2-5), themounting portion 32 includes an integrally formed bracket 62. Thebracket 62 includes an upper opening 64 for receiving a first fastener66 and a lower opening 68 for receiving a second fastener 70. Thefasteners 66, 70 may be used to mount the drain valve 30 to the nose ofa towed vehicle 72 or other suitable location. Other means of attachingthe drain valve 30 to the towed vehicle 72, however, may be used.

The drain valve 30 includes a delivery port 74 in communication with thesump outlet 52 via a passage 76 (see FIG. 4). The delivery port 74 maybe positioned at the mounting portion 32 for a bulkhead style mountingconfiguration as shown in FIG. 6. A pneumatic air line (not shown) mayattach to the delivery port 74, as is known in the art, to allow the airstream exiting the drain valve 30 to be delivered to the downstreamcomponents 25. The drain valve 30, however, may be configured toposition the delivery port 74 in a variety of locations.

The drain valve 30 may be formed from a variety of processes and from avariety of material. In the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 2-6 and 10-12,die-cast plastic or aluminum or extruded aluminum has been found to beacceptable. Other materials and processes, however, can be employed.

FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of the drain valve according tothe present invention. In this embodiment, the drain valve 80 has asimilar basic design and similar features as were described above forthe drain valve 30 of FIGS. 2-6. Namely, the drain valve 80 includes amounting portion 82, a gladhand portion 84, and a body portion 86,formed as a single, integrated part.

In this example, however, a delivery port 88 is located on the side ofthe body portion 86. The side location of the delivery port 88, ascompared to a top delivery as shown in FIG. 10, provides a moreconvenient location for directing the exiting air flow downward, whichis the typical direction that pneumatic lines are arranged on a towedvehicle such as a truck trailer. The air flow may be directed downward,for example, by attaching an elbow fitting 90 and a downward directedpneumatic line 92 to the delivery port 88. Alternatively, otherapproaches may be used to achieve a downward directed airflow, such asfor example, casting or machining a downward facing port in the bodyportion.

FIG. 7 also illustrates another example of a mounting configuration forthe drain valve 80. The mounting portion 82 includes a flange 93 havingone or more fastener openings 94 for mounting the drain valve 80 to anL-shaped bracket 96. The L-shaped bracket 96 would, in turn, mount to atowed vehicle (not shown), by fasteners for example.

FIGS. 8-9 illustrate a first and a second perspective view of anotherexemplary embodiment of the drain valve according to the presentinvention. The drain valve 100 has a similar basic design and similarfeatures as were described above for the drain valve 30 of FIGS. 2-6. Inthis embodiment, the drain valve 100 includes a mounting portion 102, agladhand portion 104, and a body portion 106. The body portion 106 has aside-facing delivery port 108 similar to the delivery port 88 of FIG. 7.An intermediate portion 110 connects the body portion 106 with thegladhand portion 104.

The gladhand portion 104 includes a seal 130, a tab 132, and a tabreceiving portion 134. As compared to the drain valve 30 in FIGS. 2-6,in which the tab 44 and tab receiving 46 are generally positioned alongthe same horizontal plane, in this embodiment the tab 132 is positionedlower than the tab receiving portion 134. As a result, when a typicalgladhand connector couples with the gladhand portion 104 the flow pathof air into the drain valve 100 is angled upward, which aids in reducingthe amount of water that may enter the valve 100.

In addition, the higher position of the tab receiving portion 134 allowsfor gradual disengagement and reduces the amount of horizontal forcerequired to break the gladhand connection should an operatorinadvertently move the towing vehicle away from the towed vehicle whilethe gladhands are still attached. When a greater force is required tobreak the connection between the gladhands, the likelihood that agladhand will violently collide with the back of the towing vehicleafter the connection is broken is greater. In addition, thisconfiguration permits ease of coupling the gladhands to the trailer.

The mounting portion 102 is configured similar to the mounting portion82 in the drain valve 80 of FIG. 7 in that it includes a flange 112which may mount to an L-shaped bracket 114 by one or more fasteners 116or other suitable means. The bracket 114 may include one or morefastener openings 118 to facilitate mounting the bracket 114 onto atowed vehicle (not shown). In the exemplary embodiment in FIGS. 8-9, thebracket 114 includes an upper opening or slot 120 for receiving one ofthe fasteners 116 for adjustably mounting the drain valve 100 to thebracket 114 and a lower opening 122 for receiving another fastener 116.

When the fastener 116 that is received in the upper opening 120 istightened down, the drain valve 100 is held securely in place. However,when the fastener is loosened, the drain valve 100 may pivot about thefastener that is received in lower opening 122. The adjustable mountingallows the gladhand portion 104 to be positioned to allow variedgladhand angle relative to the mounting surface of the towed vehiclewhile maintaining an operative position for the drain valve. Inaddition, it is more convenient for attaching a gladhand connector toit.

FIG. 10 illustrates a perspective view of another exemplary embodimentof the drain valve according to the present invention. The drain valve150 has a similar basic design and similar features as were describedabove for the drain valve 100 of FIGS. 8-9. In particular, the drainvalve 150 includes a mounting portion 152 having a flange 154 and abracket 156, a gladhand portion 158 integrally formed with the flange154, and a body portion 160.

In this embodiment, however, the body portion 160 includes a drain valveas disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/926,251. The bodyportion 160 includes a delivery port 162 positioned such that the airstream exits the top of the drain valve 150. The body portion 160 alsoincludes an inlet port 166. In this exemplary embodiment, the glad handportion 158 and the body portion 160 are not formed as a singleintegrated part, though such a configuration is possible, Instead, anattachment means is used to attach the gladhand portion 158 to the bodyportion 160. For example, the inlet port 166 may include female threadsand the gladhand portion 158 may include a male threaded extension thatcan threadably engage the female threaded inlet port 166 of the bodyportion 160. Other methods and modes of attachment are also possible.

FIG. 11 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of a drain valveaccording to the present invention. Two drain valves 180A, 180B areillustrated in FIG. 11. Both valves 180A, 180B have the same featuresand design with the exception that one valve is configured as a rightmounted valve 180A and the other valve is configured as a left mountedvalve 180B. Each valve 180A, 180B, however, need not necessarily bemounted according to its right or left mounting configuration, this isfor convenience.

The drain valves 180A, 180B have a similar basic design and similarfeatures as were described above for the drain valve 30 of FIGS. 2-6. Inparticular, the drain valves 180A, 180B include a mounting portion 182A,182B, a glad hand portion 184A, 184B and a body portion 186A, 186B. Themounting portion 182A, 182B includes an integrally formed flange 188A,188B. Fasteners 190 may be used in conjunction with the flange 188A,188B to mount the drain valve 180A, 180B to a towed vehicle 192.

The body portion 186A, 186B includes a side delivery port 194A, 194Bthat may be used to direct an air stream exiting the drain valve 180A,180B downward, similar to the drain valve 100 in FIG. 8-9. This may beaccomplished, for example, by using an elbow 196A, 196B and an air line198A, 198B.

The body portion 186A, 186B includes an intermediate portion 200A, 200B,which includes sufficient material to allow an inlet opening 202A, 202Bto be formed therein, such as for example, by drilling and tapping anNPT port. In the example in FIG. 11, the inlet opening 202A, 202B isshown angled downward, such as for example, at around 45 degrees to 60degrees from the horizontal. As shown in FIG. 12, the inlet opening 202is internally connected to a sump 204 in the body portion 186. This maybe accomplished by drilling a horizontal passage 206 through the bodyportion 186 to the sump 204. An angled passage 208 including the angledinlet opening 202, may be drilled to intersect the horizontal passage206. A plug 210 can be inserted into the horizontal passage 206 toprevent air leakage.

The gladhand portion 184A, 184B includes a gladhand connector 212A,212B, which may be a conventional style gladhand connector. Thus, thegladhand connector 212A, 212B is not integrally formed with the bodyportion 186A, 186B. Instead, the gladhand portion 184A, 184B isattached, either directly or adjacent to, the body portion 186A, 186B.In the example of FIG. 11, an attachment means, such as for example, afitting, is used to threadably connect the gladhand portion 184A, 184Bto the inlet opening 202. The gladhand portion and inlet portion,however, can attach in other suitable ways.

The configuration of the drain valve 180 with a gladhand portion 184attached to a downward angled inlet opening 202 provides the drain valve180 with an upward sloping flow direction for air entering the sump 204.This helps reduce the likelihood and amount of water and/or debrisentering the drain valve 180.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a mounting assembly for the drainvalve according to the present invention. In FIG. 13, two drain valves220A, 220B are illustrated. The drain valves 220A, 220B have a similarbasic design and similar features as were described above for the drainvalve 30 of FIGS. 2-4. In particular, the drain valves 220A, 220Binclude a mounting portion 222A, 222B, a gladhand portion 224A, 224B,and a body portion 226A, 226B formed as a single, integrated part. Inthe example illustrated in FIG. 12, the mounting portion 222A, 222Bincludes a flange 228A, 228B for mounting the drain valve 220A, 220Bsimilar to the flange 32 of the drain valve 30, as shown in FIG. 2.Unlike the drain valve 30, however, in this embodiment, the drain valve220A, 220B includes a side delivery opening 230A, 230B similar to theopening 88 of drain valve 80 of FIG. 7.

In the mounting configuration in FIG. 13, the two drain valves 220A,220B are mounted onto a bracket 232. In addition, an electricalconnector 234 for a towed vehicle (not shown) is also mounted onto thebracket 232. The bracket 232 can be mounted, as a module, onto a towedvehicle, thus providing a single unit that would make installationsimpler and less expensive.

The invention has been described with reference to the preferredembodiments. Modification and alterations will occur to others upon areading and understanding of this specification. It is intended toinclude all such modifications and alterations insofar as they comewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

1. A drain valve for use on a towed vehicle, comprising: a body portionincluding a sump, the sump having an air inlet and an air outlet; agladhand portion adjacent the body portion and capable of connecting toa gladhand connector, the gladhand portion having an air passage influid communication with the sump air inlet, wherein the drain valve iscapable of separating liquid from an air stream that flows through thesump.
 2. The drain valve according to claim 1 wherein the gladhandportion and the body portion are integrated into a single part.
 3. Thedrain valve according to claim 1 wherein the air inlet is positionedsuch that the air stream enters the sump tangentially thereby creating avortex which reduces contaminants in the air stream, and wherein the airoutlet is positioned at a top portion of the drain valve and receives acontaminant reduced portion of the air stream for distribution todownstream components.
 4. The drain valve according to claim 1 whereinthe air inlet is configured as a vertical slot.
 5. The drain valveaccording to claim 4 wherein the vertical slot is tangential to thesump.
 6. The drain valve according to claim 1 further comprising anautomatic drain port located along a base portion of the drain valve. 7.The drain valve according to claim 1 further comprising a mountingportion for attaching the drain valve to the towed vehicle.
 8. The drainvalve according to claim 7 wherein the mounting portion includes anintegrally formed flange capable of mounting directly to the towedvehicle.
 9. The drain valve according to claim 7 wherein the mountingportion is configured to attach to a bracket.
 10. The drain valveaccording to claim 1 wherein orientation of the gladhand portionrelative to the towed vehicle is adjustable.
 11. The drain valveaccording to claim 10 wherein the body portion is oriented substantiallyvertical at any orientation of the gladhand portion.
 12. The drain valveaccording to claim 1 wherein air flowing from the air inlet to the sumpflows in an upward direction.
 13. A drain valve for use on a towedvehicle, comprising: a gladhand portion; and a body portion including asump, wherein the drain valve is capable of separating an air stream byweight, wherein the body portion and the gladhand portion are formed asa single, integrated part.
 14. The drain valve according to claim 13further comprising an air inlet and an air outlet, wherein the air inletis positioned such that an inlet stream of compressed air enters thesump tangentially thereby creating a vortex which separates the inletstream by weight, and wherein the air outlet is positioned at a topportion of the drain valve and receives a lighter portion of theseparated inlet stream for distribution to downstream components. 15.The drain valve according to claim 13 wherein the air inlet isconfigured as a vertical slot.
 16. The drain valve according to claim 13further comprising an automatic drain port located along a base portionof the drain valve.
 17. The drain valve according to claim 13 furthercomprising a mounting portion for attaching the drain valve to the towedvehicle.
 18. The drain valve according to claim 17 wherein the mountingportion includes an integrally formed flange capable of mountingdirectly to the towed vehicle.
 19. The drain valve according to claim 17wherein the mounting portion is configured to attach to a bracket. 20.The drain valve according to claim 13 wherein orientation of thegladhand portion to the towed vehicle is adjustable.
 21. The drain valveaccording to claim 13 wherein air flowing from the air inlet to the sumpflows in an upward direction.
 22. A device for connecting the pneumaticlines of a towed vehicle to a pressurized air source, the devicecomprising: a gladhand portion having an air passage for transmittingpressurized air from the pressurized air source; a body portion, thebody portion including a sump in fluid communication with the airpassage, wherein the body portion is capable of separating liquid fromthe pressurized air; and an attachment means for attaching the gladhandportion adjacent the body portion.
 23. The device of claim 22 whereinthe attachment means includes an integrally formed intermediate portion.24. The device of claim 22 wherein the attachment means includes afitting.
 25. The device of claim 22 wherein the air passage is angledupward.
 26. The device of claim 22 further comprising an automatic drainport located along a base portion of the device.
 27. A combinationgladhand connector and drain valve, the combination comprising: amounting portion for attaching the combination to a towed vehicle; agladhand portion; a drain valve body portion formed as a single,integrated part with the gladhand portion, the drain valve body portionhaving a sump disposed therein, wherein the drain valve body portionincludes an air inlet and an air outlet, wherein said air inlet ispositioned such that an inlet stream of compressed air enters the sumptangentially thereby creating a vortex which reduces contaminants in theinlet stream by weight, and wherein said air outlet is positioned at atop portion of said drain valve body portion and receives a contaminantreduced portion of the inlet stream for distribution to downstreamcomponents; and an automatic drain port located along a base portion ofsaid drain valve body portion.
 28. The drain valve according to claim 27wherein the contaminants include at least one of: liquids andparticulates.
 29. A method of separating a pressurized air stream byweight, the method comprising the steps of: connecting a gladhandconnector that is in fluid communication with a pressurized air sourceto a gladhand portion of a drain valve; feeding a pressurized air streaminto the drain valve such that the pressurized air stream forms a vortexwithin a sump in the drain valve to separate the pressurized air streaminto an outlet air stream and a drain stream; passing the outlet streamthrough a drain valve outlet and to one or more downstream components;collecting the drain stream at a bottom portion of the sump; andautomatically draining the drain stream from the sump through a drainport.
 30. The method according to claim 28 wherein the step ofautomatically draining the drain stream further comprises automaticallyopening the drain port when said sump experiences a relatively lowpressure and automatically closing the drain port when said sumpexperiences a relatively high pressure.
 31. The method according toclaim 28 wherein the gladhand portion is integral with the drain valve.